Sacrificed on the Altar of Science
by LittleMewLugia
Summary: A young Rocket trainee is assigned to a scientist for an assignment. However, the scientist's plans involve her not being his assistant, but his experimental subject...rnNOTE: This is one of several stories I wrote on this theme, and I combined several


Sacrificed on the Alter of Science

Christy awoke to a distinctly itching bulb. Reaching her hand behind

her, she finally managed to reach the irritating spot. Her bulb had been itching rather a lot of late, and she wondered if it were getting ready to sprout. She sighed as the itch was relieved, then sighed again, thinking of the situation she was in. Three years ago, she'd joined Team Rocket as a trainee,looking for a more interesting lifestyle than fighting the trainers-mainly bug-catchers-around her area.

Her starting Pokemon had been a Bulbasaur, and she had acquired a Rattata not long before joining. The first six months had been fine-she'd met several young trainees-Vanessa, a rather self-conscious albino, and Ben, a blonde, calm character. In the same year was Danielle, a vivacious, green-haired trainee., and Mondo, who, having lived in Team Rocket as an exec's dependant before being entered as a trainee, knew his way around and had helped she and the other trainees until they also got to know their way about. Vanessa had a Clefairy as her Pokemon, Ben had a Growlithe and a Gloom, and Mondo had a Tauros and a Ditto. Danielle had a Seel and a Haunter.

Mondo had introduced them to some of the other trainees-Kevin, who was in his final year, and had a Muk, a Kangaskhan, and a Marowak, Clare, who was also in her final year, and had a Gloom, a Spearow, and a Kadabra, and Rhiannon, a third-year with an Electabuzz, aTangela, and a Dragonair. Kevin, Clare, and Rhiannon would all be Elite now, she mused. Mondo would be third year, along with Vanessa, Danielle, and Ben. She should have been there with them, would have been, had her assignment been different.

Six months into their first year, all trainees were assigned as assistants to elite, execs, scientists or general grunts. Who you

were sent to did not reflect what you planned to go on as-names were drawn out of a hat. An aspiring Elite could as easily go

to assist a grunt as an exec. If the trainee was unhappy with their assigned person, they could, after a year, ask to be reassigned. Most trainees, however, stayed with their assigned people, having built up a friendship with them. Very few asked for reassignment.

Mondo had drawn first in their class, drawing Josie. He has put it back and redrawn, as Josie was his foster mother, and might

favour him. He had then drawn out the Boss himself-considered the jammiest trainee assignment going. He had magnaminously

offered to put it back, but he was well liked, and nobody minded, and told him to keep it. Danielle had gone next, drawing Cassidy. Then Ben had drawn Josie, and Rhiannon had drawn Laura, another executive. Vanessa had drawn a grunt. Carley herself had drawn a scientist she had never seen and nobody had heard of. It seemed he kept very much to himself.

He was a thin, dark-haired man, who smiled at her when she came in. He had asked to see her Pokémon, and she'd brought them out. He'd examined them rather impersonally, she thought, and more roughly than she would have. He'd seemed quite interested in her Bulbasaur, and looking back, she was certain that that was when he'd had the idea.

For the last five months of her assignment, she'd quite enjoyed it. The scientist hadn't been that talkative, only speaking to her to give her orders or tell her to get this or that or run a message for so-and-so. She didn't mind, finding some of the work quite

interesting. All the trainees knew that assistants were mainly dogsbodies, who did the things other people didn't want to do or

were too busy. She didn't always like what he did.

One time, she found him removing a Pikachu's cheek pouches. He said it was for an old lady who wanted a Pikachu as a pet, but didn't want to risk getting thundershocked. Carley still thought it was cruel, but all her pleading didn't make a difference. The Pikachu lost its cheek pouches, and was sold, for a price, to an elderly lady.

She often saw the other trainees, and found that Mondo, far from having it easy, was dividing his time between two assignments. Jessie and James, another Elite team, had not been drawn by a trainee that year, so the Boss was sending Mondo out with them during idle times-which were quite frequent. The Boss did some of the dogsbody work himself, leaving Mondo nothing to do. Mondo did not at all mind working for Jessie and James as well as the boss, and in fact seemed to thrive on it.

It was one particular day when she was finishing putting away some equipment in a cupboard when she sensed him coming in behind her. She wasn't alarmedat all-he often aided her in putting some of the equipment up on the shelves she couldn't reach. She was completely taken bysurprise when he grabbed her around the upper body and she felt a needle go into her arm. She cried out, but he withdrew theneedle, dropped it, and put his hand over her mouth. She struggled, but whatever he'd given her was taking effect, and she wasweakening. The last thing she felt, as she passed out, was him picking her up as she crumpled towards the floor.

She awoke with a slightly sore back, and she could feel something going up her nose. Putting her hand to her face, she could feel a tube taped to her cheek. Following it with her hand, she found it was what was up her left nostril.

"Ah, you're awake." Said the scientist from behind her. She tried to turn over to face him, but found herself unable to. It felt as though she had a rucksack on her back, preventing her from turning. "No, don't do that, you'll have to go onto your belly." He said. "The bulb will make you incapable of lying on your back."

"Bulb?" she said. Her voice sounded wispy and strange, and she tried to clear her throat, but the tube made her gag. Reaching back, she could feel a large, rounded leafy protruberance that seemed to be attached to her back.

"I obtained the seed that Bulbasaurs get planted on their backs at birth." He said. "I decided to see if it would grow on a human back. It worked, but you'll need to be trained in it's usage."

"But-I don't want to!" she said. "I never asked for this! Please, just take it off and let me go back to doing my trainee work!"

"Oh, I'm afraid that's quite impossible." He said. "This has taken time and effort. You've been kept sedated for the past four

months to allow that a chance to grow and get well established. I've told the execs in charge of trainees that you've had second

thoughts and run away. I've told them you expressed reservations about staying in Team Rocket."

"But I didn't!" she cried.

"I know. " he said. "But it'll stop them looking while I do what I want to with you. First things first, you'll need to exercise to

build up your leg muscles. Four months of inactivity has, I'm afraid, left them a little atrophied. You'll need them a little stronger than they were, to support the weight of the bulb. You'll also have to adopt a different stance, leaning forward to take into account the weight of the bulb-like so." he said, demonstrating "Once your legs are stronger and your balance sorted out, I'll arrange a little battle so you can learn to use what you have."

"I don't want to!" she cried. "I'm a person, not a Pokémon!"

"You have a bulb, and can therefore learn everything a Bulbasaur can." He said. "Your opinion here doesn't count. You have no say in what is to happen. You are mine now."

For the past two years, he had been "training" her, and her bulb had grown to the Ivysaur stage. She was incapable of lying on

her back on a normal bed, although the scientist had had a bed made for her with a hole the right size for her bulb to go in. But

the weight of the growing plant pulled on her back, so she preferred to put her normal mattress back and lie on her side. She could leech seed, vine whip, razor leaf, and sleep powder. This gave her little comfort. The scientist had told her what he intended.

"Once you learn Solarbeam, I can have you hypnotised to obey me and I can take you out with something to cover up what you have on your back. People will simply think you are malformed. I can use you to commit crimes or even hire you out for a fee." He told her.

She was kept indoors, and had only seen enough of the place he was keeping her in to know it was no part of Team Rocket she knew. He had been away from the lab for several hours at a time for about eight months, returning only in the evening to continue his work with her. Then he had been available all day, and had been increasing her "training".

She shook her head, dismissing her depressing thoughts. She got up, and walked down the short corridor to where her chamber pot was kept. The size of the plant on her back made going to the toilet normally almost impossible, so she used a pot. After she'd finished, she tipped the contents down the loo nearby, and flushed it. She rinsed out the pot, then made her way up to the lab, where she'd be given food of some variety. As she came in, she could see he was at work. She realised he had another person. She crept over to see what he was doing. As she looked at the face of the hapless trainer-a male-, she realised she knew him.

"Mondo!" she cried. She looked at the scientist. "Why?" she said. "Aren't I enough?"

"No." he said. I can make more money from having more than one. People with different skills for different occasions. Hestood back, so she could see what he'd been doing. She pulled back a little. Mondo had cheek pouches, a Raichu tail, and apair of Raichu ears. The scientist took her by the arm and led her, none too gently, to her room. "You can help him cope when he wakes up. But that won't be till his Raichu parts have settled in, which will take some weeks. Till then, don't interfere!" With that, he locked her in her room.

When he came and unlocked the door, Mondo had been moved elsewhere. She got to see him six weeks later. He pushed her

into the room and said "You can help him come to terms with his new life. You were unlucky, you were the first. He at least gets to talk to someone who can explain how they've adapted." He exited, closed the door and locked it. Christy stood, looking at Mondo, wondering what she could say, if anything, to reduce the shock and dismay he'd feel upon wakening. It was as bad as she'd feared.

Once past the "Where am I?" stage, it was "What has happened to me?" He put his hands to his cheeks, felt his ears, and found the tail. He looked at her, apparently noticed the bulb for the first time, and burst into tears. She held him and rocked him as he cried.

"Even if we get away, Carley won't want me now!" he wept.

"Carley?" asked Christy.

"My girlfriend." sniffed Mondo. "I'm a freak now, she won't want me!"

"She might! Looks aren't everything." Said Christy.

"She won't want to risk cuddling me in case I get excited and thundershock by mistake!" he said.

"I know." She said in a small voice. "I once entertained thoughts of escape, but I'd just be stared at outside! I want to escape, but in here at least I don't get stared at."

"We'll get our chance." Said Mondo, squeezing her hand. "And when we do, we'll take it. We can find one of the execs or the Boss. Team Rocket'll protect us!"

"How do we know this isn't Team Rocket sponsored?" asked Carley. "He's a Team Rocket scientist!"

"No he isn't." said Mondo. "I forget, you probably haven't heard the news, stuck in here. He was sacked about a year and a half ago. Turns out he was doing projects on the side to get himself more money. Additionally, he was siphoning off Team Rocket funds into his own pocket. He came into the HQ and nabbed me while I slept. He knows I'm the Boss's trainee, and I think he chose me in revenge. The Boss looks on me a bit like a son-he does with all his trainees apparently-so he's getting his own back for being sacked by taking me and doing this to me."

"Then you think we could escape? And go to the Boss about it? But how do we know they don't plan to use us in the same way?"

"I don't think the Boss would. After being his trainee for three years I ought to know him a bit. If you're really worried, we can go to my mum and she can come with us when we approach the Boss. She holds quite a high position among the execs, and she'll' make it quite clear to the boss she wouldn't approve of us being used in that way unless we wanted to. Jessie and James would support us too, they like me as well. All we have to do is wait for the opportunity and seize it! After all, you have, and I soon will have, abilities he won't have!" That gave Christy something to think about. She had never before considered using the skills forced upon her on the scientist.

About a month later, Christy was taken down to the basement gym where the scientist trained her. She hadn't been taken down there for a while, and had assumed he'd been too busy training Mondo to bother with her. She supposed she would have to fight his rat again, but had an unpleasant surprise when confronted with a hypnotised Mondo! She was so shocked Mondo got in his thunder wave attack first, quickly followed by a thunderbolt which sent her reeling.

"Well, defend yourself, won't you!" cried the scientist.

"But-it's Mondo, I don't want to hurt him!" she cried.

"Well, he won't have such compunctions about hurting you!" shouted the scientist. Christy realised he was right, and let fly with

a Razor Leaf attack, which sent Mondo staggering back. It was a close fight, but she had a slight advantage, and managed to exhaust him first. At the end, she felt the itch in her bulb, which had been with her now for months, intensify, then staggered as

the huge bud on her back suddenly opened and the flower bloomed. The scientist was delighted. He helped Mondo back to the room that he and Christy now shared, then helped her back. Mondo had been unhypnotised by the time she was brought up, and was eating to regain strength.

"I'm sorry." She said, seeing the marks on his arm left by the razor leaf attack.

"Don't be. I would have felt terrible if I'd come around and found I'd hurt you bad because you wouldn't fight back." He stopped talking as the scientist came in with some noodles for her. He waited till he'd left, then checked outside the door. After making sure the scientist wasn't eavesdropping, he started talking again. "Next time we get a chance, we'll break out. I have abilities I can use now, and so do you! If we can convince him to let us battle each other with both of us unhypnotised, we can combine our forces to knock him out and get away!" Christy nodded. She realised she'd though it fairly hopeless to try and escape before. But with Mondo on her side, both with his new abilities and with his enthusiasm to fire her up, she thought escape could now be a very real possibility. They decided not to make their offer too soon, to avoid him getting suspicious.

They did have other battles with each other, and sometimes it was Mondo who was hypnotised, sometimes her. One of the times when she was unhypnostised, she was informed she had learned Solarbeam during the fight. She was finding it more and more difficult these days to stay upright for prolonged periods of time, and the weight of her blossom was giving her almost constant backache. She hoped they could make the offer soon. After speaking with Mondo, they agreed now was the time. It worked like a charm. Mondo did the asking, and the scientist agreed.

"I'm glad you've adapted so well! he said. "Perhaps I can trust you to go out with you unhypnotised!" He took them down to the gym to fight. They had agreed earlier to start off fighting each other, in case he was still suspicious, but then turn on him. He started the fight, and they began to battle. Then Mondo thunderbolted the scientist, who went flying back, a look of shock on his face.

Before he could recover, she ran over, dropped to her hands and knees, and started lashing out with her vines. Mondo followed up with a body slam, and she changed to a razor leaf attack. When he still seemed to be attempting to get up, she told Mondo to stall him, and began building energy for a Solarbeam, turning it on him, which knocked him out, for all it was a weak attempt, having only the flourescent tube lights to draw upon. She got to her feet while Mondo searched the unconscious scientist. He produced a key, and said "Come on!"

"No, wait! We should tie him up and call the police! He's taken notes about what he's done to us and there's enough incriminating evidence in his lab to send him down for a long time!" she said.

She found some rope, and tied his hands and feet behind him, then tied his hands and feet up together behind him. "That should slow him down!" she said. They went upstairs, used the lab phone to call some Officer Jennys to the scene, detailing where they could find him, and then they split, first finding both hers and Mondo's Pokémon, still in their pokéballs in a shelf. She had a blanket over her back, and Mondo had one draped over his head and one around his waist to conceal the tail, and in this way they made their way back to the Rocket building over a few days.

Money taken from the scientist's pocket served to buy them food and drink for the journey. Mondo helped Christy in through a little-known back entrance, and they went to his mother. She spent the following ten minutes alternately embarrassing Mondo by throwing her arms around him and weeping, and saying unprintable things about the scientist. Once she'd finished, she took them both to see the Boss. As Mondo had predicted, he was thoroughly shocked and disgusted.

"There are things that people do that even Team Rocket don't stoop to, and this is one of them!" he said. "We have a scientist in the lower levels who can try to remove these things." He directed Josie to take them down. The scientist said he could easily remove Mondo's Raichu parts, but said Christy's flower would be a lot more difficult.

"There are a lot of roots supplying nutrients to and anchoring this thing, and there's a good chance you'd get paralysed if I removed it. I suggest waiting a while, and I'll make enquiries about nonsurgical methods. Don't worry, after a year, I'll try operating if you want and there's no alternative."

"I understand." She said unhappily. "Can I sit with Mondo while he gets returned to normal?" "Okay. It'll be you and Carley." He let Carley, a first-year trainee, in as well. She cuddled Mondo, weeping, and promised she'd love him no matter what. Then he was sedated, and each girl held a hand while he had the Raichu parts removed. He felt much better afterwards. He promised to help the scientist research a way to get Christy back to normal. Four months later, he came for Christy.

"You need to hear this too!" he said. He took her down to the friendly scientist who had indeed been researching nonsurgical methods. He was running a model on the computer of a non-systemic weedkiller.

"Sir!" said Mondo. "I'e just had it confirmed that a guy who lives on the cape of Cerulean, a guy called Bill has a teleporter. It can only move people about five metres, but I heard that it has a Cell separation system in it too! It helped unscramble him when he accidentally got combined with one of his Pokemon! Couldn't it get that bulb off Christy?" The scientist looked at him.

"Well, you would think so, wouldn't you? Let's pay him a visit and find out..."


End file.
